Tikki's Home
by Aishoka-J
Summary: Manon is a little angel for Marinette but Tikki is the one who suffers most. Well, enough is enough. Marinette has decided that it's time Tikki had a safe house – literally.


**Tikki's home**

Tikki whimpered as she floated down onto the large cat plushie on Marinette's bed. It had been a long, tiring, and stressful day for the poor little god.

It started normally enough, with Marinette nearly late for school because she overslept. She had muddled through her lessons, missing her lunch break because of the silly akuma that had popped up, before hurrying home to do a shift in the bakery and speed through her homework.

All in all a fairly normal day in the life of an undercover superheroine and her kwami.

Until that evening.

Marinette had had to babysit Manon. Again. And Tikki had been her toy of choice. AGAIN!

It had started on a quiet Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. Marinette had been relaxing with some knitting while her parents ran the bakery when there had been a sudden loud knocking at the door.

Nadja Chamack had come running in, apologising for the late notice, saying her other babysitter had cancelled on her and could Marinette please, please, _please_ , for double the normal rate, just watch her little angel for an hour or so while she covered a very important interview.

Of course Marinette had been unable to say no. She had agreed and waved Mme. Chamack off with a smile before turning around to find that Manon had disappeared.

"What's this weird looking toy?"

"Oh no," Marinette had run for her room, hoping to be wrong, hoping that Manon didn't have who she thought she had…

… only to find that, yes, Manon did indeed have her kwami. Tikki had tried to put a toy-like expression on her face, but Marinette could see the strain around her eyes as Manon poked and prodded at her.

"Manon! Give her back!"

"Oh, but Marinette…" out came the kitten eyes.

But she wasn't falling for it this time. Not when her kwami's safety was at stake.

"No!" she held her hand out to the little girl. "I said give her back Manon. She isn't a toy."

"But I…"

"Do you remember what happened the last time I said no? You tore the arm off my Chat Noir doll. I don't want the same thing to happen again."

"I'll be really careful!"

"I said no, Manon," she held her hand out again. "Give her back. Now!"

Manon, with a great deal of reluctance, sulking, and more failed kitten eyes, finally caved in and handed Tikki back. The kwami shot Marinette a grateful look once she was sure Manon wasn't looking.

"Thank you," the designer smiled. "Now, why don't we head downstairs for a while? We can make some chocolate chip cookies for you to share with your maman later."

"YAY!"

Manon thundered back down the stairs and started rooting through the cupboards leaving Marinette alone with Tikki for a moment. The girl had apologised profusely and hidden her safely away up on her loft bed, before hurrying to join the energetic girl in the kitchen. Tikki winced with sympathy every time Marinette had to caution Manon, or whenever something got knocked to the floor, but she wasn't going to risk going down there until the little angel had been collected.

Marinette had somehow managed to clean up the cooking mess when Mme. Chamack arrived to collect Manon. She saw the frazzled look and the twitching eye and quickly promised Marinette that it wouldn't happen again, that she would have better contingencies in place the next time she got stood up, and paid up triple the normal rate.

Tikki flew down once the coast was clear. "Thank you for saving me Marinette."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you away from her faster," she cuddled her kwami to her cheek. "Still, that probably won't happen again any time soon, so we'll have enough time to hide you the next time Manon comes over."

"Right!"

Wrong. They were so, so wrong about that.

Mme. Chamack was let down by her regular babysitter four more times. Which meant that Marinette was roped into last-minute babysitting four more times. Which meant that Tikki was grabbed, and shaken about, and thrown around like a stuffed animal _four more times_!

She had suffered the indignity of being shoved into ill-fitting dolls clothes and paraded though a dolls house today. Twenty minutes of torture before Marinette could successfully wrestle her away from Manon.

"Tikki?"

The kwami just whimpered and burrowed deeper into the cat plushie.

"Tikki? I made you your favourite cookies. They're still warm."

Tired blue eyes peered up at Marinette. She was already dressed for bed, hair loose about her shoulders, and she was holding out a plate of delicious cookies with a tentative smile on her face.

"Thanks Marinette… but honestly I'm not that hungry right now," she sighed. "I think I just want to sleep."

"Ok, if you're sure?"

"I am."

"I'll leave these here for you then," she slid the plate up on the shelf behind her bed. "In case you want a midnight snack."

"Thank you."

"I need to finish my homework, will you be ok sleeping through that?"

"I'll be fine Marinette," Tikki smiled, then yawned. "I just really want to rest after today."

"Ok then," Marinette sighed. She reached out and caressed Tikki's head gently before slipping down her loft stairs and leaving Tikki in peace.

It didn't take too long for the exhausted kwami to fall asleep. She was so happy that Marinette wasn't at the age to have children of her own. She couldn't handle someone like Manon every single day.

* * *

Marinette sighed as she did her homework. Or tried to. It wasn't sinking in very well.

She was worried about Tikki, and she was honestly starting to get a little angry at Nadja Chamack for not making the other arrangements that she promised she would. Ok, so Mme. Chamack didn't know that Marinette had a pocket-sized magical being to hide every time she dumped Manon on her, but even normal teenagers had busy lives that they couldn't just put on hold whenever an adult needed them to do something.

Maybe she could talk to her parents about it? Get them to talk to Mme. Chamack for her?

It really wasn't fair to Tikki to be used like a toy. It certainly wasn't worth the extra money, no matter how much it helped with her sewing commissions.

The kwami would hide away carefully when she knew that someone was coming to visit Marinette, but these last minute babysitting gigs were ridiculous. She just didn't have enough warning to hide properly. Tikki had always stressed the importance of being close to Marinette – you never know when Ladybug will be needed, she had said at the start of their partnership – but Marinette wanted her to have free reign of her room after being cooped up in her bag all day. She couldn't do that with all these surprise visits.

Today had been the worst.

Manon had brought her new dolls with her this time. And their wardrobes too. She was in the middle of playing 'fashion show' when Marinette finally climbed the stairs into her room, and she had chosen Tikki as her lead model.

The secret superheroine winced and pushed her homework to one side. It was no use trying to concentrate on it when all she could see was Tikki being stuffed into ill-fitting clothing, or being squeezed too tightly by little hands, or being paraded around the room on an imaginary catwalk, or being shoved into a tiny dolls house and…

Her pen fell from her hands with a clatter.

A doll's house.

Manon had brought a small doll's house with her today. A doll's house that Tikki was just the right size for.

What if Tikki had something like that for herself? A little place in Marinette's room just for her. A place that could be her sanctuary when these unexpected visits happened.

Sure Tikki could carry on hiding in her bag, but she had to do that all day in school anyway. She deserved somewhere where she could stretch her wings out while still being a hidden. She deserved a place of her own.

But where?

It was an amazing idea to give Tikki a place of her own, but where could she have her quiet little corner? If she suddenly put a brand new doll's house somewhere in her room then Manon would consider that an open invitation to play – especially if she caught Tikki inside. The same was true for the main part of the flat; Manon would still want to play with it and her parents would start asking questions too. There was her rooftop garden but that wasn't a good solution once winter rolled around – their bug-like tendencies meant they didn't cope with cold weather well at all. Not that Marinette would even dream of casting Tikki out of the house like that ever.

Maybe she could convert a desk drawer? Or one of her vanity drawers? Tikki could phase in and out of it without needing to open the drawer herself. It would be easy to rig up some kind of light for her too.

But Manon frequently rooted through her drawers. Alya too, for that matter, but Marinette didn't mind that so much since Alya usually only went through her things when she'd asked her to find something.

In fact, the only place in her room that Manon didn't play was her bed. Manon wasn't allowed up the loft stairs since the time she had nearly fallen trying to climb out of the roof hatch.

Hiding a house up there would keep it safe from the little angel but Alya would certainly see it and the reporter in her wouldn't let it drop until she knew why Marinette was hiding a toy she was too old for.

Unless…

Quietly, so as not to disturb the slumbering kwami, Marinette climbed up to her loft bed and shuffled towards the back wall.

Right above her bed she had a little recessed alcove where she kept some of her favourite books, a few nick-nacks and a little moon and stars lamp. Her parents had installed it when they'd decided to raise the level of the bed in the attic room to give her more floor space. It was more convenient than trying to somehow build a little table next to the bed.

It was also perfect for a little doll's house.

She climbed down to her desk, grabbed her tape measure, a notebook, and pencil, and hurried up the stairs again. Working quickly and quietly, she removed everything from the alcove and carefully measured every single centimetre. She double and triple checked her figures before putting everything back and hurrying back to her computer.

It was perfect!

Tikki didn't need a large house, just somewhere to hide away from Manon. Somewhere she could rest and unwind after being cooped up yet still stay close enough to help her become Ladybug when she needed to.

It would be easy enough to sew some sort of curtain to cover the alcove, enough to keep prying eyes away from Tikki's house.

Marinette eagerly booted her compute up and opened her internet browser.

All she had to do now was find a house that would fit.

* * *

Several hours later, after finally caving in and doing her homework before she forgot about it (again!), Marinette returned to her house hunting.

Why was this so hard? Why could she only seem to find houses that were too tall or too wide to fit on the shelf?

Dolls came in all shapes and sizes, surely their houses would too, so why couldn't she find one that would fit?

"This is ridiculous!" she whisper screamed, clicking through house after house after house on a website belonging to one of the biggest toy companies in France. "All they sell are toys, you're telling me they don't have anything with the right dimensions?"

Muttering a few Chinese curses under her breath (curses she would never admit to overhearing her mother use which she had then run through a translation app) she opened the next page.

The first one looked small enough, but was made from a tacky and flimsy plastic like material so she immediately ignored that one. She'd already decided that a wooden house was the better option. Wood was much sturdier and far more durable than plastic.

The second one was adorable, and came fully furnished too, but it was far too big.

She clicked off that one with a growl and resisted the urge to put her fist through the screen.

The third one was four storeys tall so that was discounted too.

The fourth one…

"Wow!"

The fourth one was adorable!

It reminded her of a log cabin at first, with the asymmetric roof sloping off to one side and overhanging a tiny balcony with a door. It was longer than it was tall, yet still managed to have four decent sized rooms that Tikki would be able to fit into without any problems. There was even a staircase going up from the ground to the first floor and doors between each of the rooms.

According to the description, all the windows and doors opened too, so Tikki could easily walk between then without having to phase through the wood.

And the dimensions…

"YES!"

The dimensions of the house were perfect! 26cm deep, giving her nearly 10cm between the house and the edge of the shelf, 39cm high and 75cm deep. It even came with furniture. For once it didn't look like it was the wrong sized furniture for a kwami either. It was just perfect!

But it wasn't exactly cheap.

Marinette hissed when she saw the price. She hadn't set a price filter for her search, after all she wouldn't put a price on anything to keep Tikki happy, but this was a little out of her budget right now. She bookmarked it for later. It was the perfect fit, and her designer's mind was already planning what she and Tikki could do to spruce it up, and what type of furniture she would need… but that didn't change the fact that she didn't have the money for it just yet.

Maybe she'd get lucky and it would come on sale?

Giving up her search for the night, Marinette got her things ready for school and hurried up to bed to join her kwami in dreamland.

* * *

Two weeks later and Marinette was ready to scream.

She was ready to scream and shout her frustrations to the world, or just go Ladybug on the executives of all of the toy companies in France. Maybe they'd listen to an irate superheroine when she told them they needed more variety in the sizes of their doll's houses.

Two weeks of searching and she had only found the one house that would fit on her shelf. Only one!

There were smaller companies and family run businesses the said they would custom design and make a house to suit her needs but Marinette didn't want to go down that route. For one thing they would cost way more than an off the shelf doll's house would, and for another she could probably make one for Tikki herself if she really put her mind to it.

But that would take a lot of time and that was something she didn't have a lot of. There were only two months left before schools all over Paris finished for summer which meant there were only two months left before Manon was coming over regularly.

Tikki needed a place to hide before that happened.

So she was left with a single option. The perfect house she had found two weeks ago. The perfect house that still hadn't come down in price yet.

Marinette knew how much money she had in her personal bank account. It was close to the price of the doll's house but not close enough. If she dipped into her savings account she would definitely have enough to buy the house, but then she would have to explain to her parents why she was dipping into the account that she had promised not to touch until she was in university.

She didn't think they would accept buying a doll's house as a suitable excuse.

What she needed was a big commission to come in. Maybe another actor from Mylène's father's acting troupe? Some fancy dress for an upcoming dance? Maybe she could get a call from Jagged Stone again, and he would want another album cover, and a new stage outfit, and maybe a matching collar for Fang too, and maybe…

"Marinette, sweetie!" he dad shouted up. "Mme. Chamack is here. She's got a big favour to ask you."

"Be right there, baba," she shouted back and quickly opened her jacket. "Tikki hide!"

Or maybe Mme. Chamack would stop by again with another triple-rate emergency babysitting session. That would probably give her enough money to buy the house.

Marinette hurried downstairs and greeted Manon with a smile, happy for once that Tikki was safely hidden in her blazer pocket.

* * *

As it turned out, Mme. Chamack gave her four times the normal rate to look after Manon for two hours that afternoon.

Apparently her parents had noticed the strain all of these urgent, last-minute favours were putting on their daughter and they had had words with their friend. She promised that she really was looking into getting another more permanent babysitter for Manon, and would endeavour not to bring her around unless it was planned in advance. Marinette was, after all, a very busy teenager. Her parents knew just how hard she words on her commissions and her many competition entries not to mention all of her homework and the shifts she did in the bakery.

The next morning she hurried to the bank and deposited her babysitting money and that evening, once Tikki was asleep, she ordered the doll's house.

* * *

It took just over a week to arrive.

"Oh Marinette!" her mother called as she rushed in from school one afternoon. "You got a few more deliveries today, darling. I put them up in your room for you."

"Thanks mama!"

There was a small pile of parcels waiting for her on her chaise. Some were fabrics and buttons and accessories she had ordered. Two were from her grandparents and had been sent for her birthday. But the largest one was the doll's house. Thankfully, aside from the company name, there was nothing on the box to indicate what was inside so it would be kept a surprise from Tikki.

She had been intending to give the house to Tikki as soon as it arrived. It was going to be her kwami's safe haven, after all, and she deserved the treat after everything she put up with when Manon came over.

But the emails from the toy company had made her change her mind.

As with most large companies, once she had made her purchase they had started sending her emails trying to get her to buy complimentary items. Usually she deleted those without looking at them. She had done that with the first three from the toy manufacturer until she had accidentally opened the fourth one.

The picture caught her eyes straight away.

It was adorable! A cute little stuffed animal sitting at a table in a doll's house and reading a doll sized book while another stuffed animal sat on a plus sofa watching a TV nearby. It was just so cute…

… and it got her thinking.

The house might be intended to be Tikki's safe haven but right now it was basically just a pile of wood she could hide in. Tikki deserved better than that. Marinette was going to make sure that this doll's house became a real house for Tikki. She was going to make it into a home.

"What's all this Marinette?"

But she couldn't do anything while Tikki was awake. She smiled at the little god floating over her shoulder. "Oh, just a few things I ordered and some late birthday presents from my grandparents."

"Oh that's nice of them! What did they get?"

From her Chinese grandparents she got a beautiful lotus patterned hair slide, with small crystals dotted on the flower, and a stunning set of silver and jade hair sticks. They were beautiful. Her father's parents had sent a lovely new design book that she was already itching to read and a card with some money in so she could buy extra fabrics.

"You've got an amazing family, Marinette," Tikki cooed over the jewelled hair clip.

"Yeah, I do," she smiled. She included Tikki in that description too. She wasn't sure exactly how she would label their relationship – motherly, sisterly, cousins, or aunt and niece – but Tikki was definitely under the heading of family in her mind.

"What about the other packages?"

"What packages? Oh! Those! Yeah! There are other parcels!" she laughed nervously. "I think I… you know what, I'm going to do my homework now. Better get that done before I open my fabrics and get too distracted to actually do it."

Tikki either didn't notice her nerves or ignored them. Instead she beamed at Marinette. "Oh that's a wonderful idea. You're really handling all of your responsibilities so well right now. I'm so proud of you!"

Great. Now Tikki wasn't suspicious of her but she had to put her design ideas on hold while she did her homework.

The things she did for her kwami.

* * *

Marinette managed to finish her homework, do her chores, have a quiet meal with her family, and work on her latest theatre commissions before Tikki finally fell asleep that evening.

She hurried over to the doll's house box and tore it open as quietly as she could. She had been thinking of interior design ideas all day and couldn't wait to see what she had to work with.

But first things first…

Marinette's tape measure flew all over the pre-assembled doll's house, checking, double checking, and triple checking that the dimensions were correct and that it would fit on the shelf behind her bed. She didn't want to have to send this back for a refund. Luckily they matched. This house was officially Tikki's.

She quickly measured the dimensions of all of the rooms, noting the placement of windows and doors, and drawing a perfectly to scale floor plan in one of her sketchbooks. This would help her plan what she wanted to make for her kwami.

Then she turned her attention to the extras that came with the house.

The little doll family was sweet but the house wasn't for them so they had to go. Most of the furniture could go too – Tikki didn't need a pretend kitchen or bathroom set after all, and although the bed looked promising it was as solid as a brick. Tikki would never sleep well on that. The dining set looked to be the right size, however, as did the pink two seater sofa, but the armchair and coffee table had to go, as did the rugs. Marinette knew she could make them better than that herself!

In the end she decided to keep the sofa, the dining set, and the electric lights. They were the most likely fit for her kwami but it would be up to Tikki whether or not she used them. Everything else went into a bag that she would take to the local charity shop at the earliest opportunity.

Marinette then turned to the interior décor.

Honestly, the designs made her cringe. There was no overall decorating scheme, the chevrons in the top left room gave her a headache just looking at them, and the small yellow box room was garishly bright. The wood effect floor in the pink room was nice, but the other floors had to be changed.

She picked up her sketch book and pencil then stopped.

This should be Tikki's choice. It wasn't going to be Marinette's house, so why should she choose how it was decorated? While she and Tikki shared many of the same likes and dislikes – they both loved pink, cute things, and flowers, and they both hated orange and paisley – it didn't mean they would choose that same things for the same rooms.

But Marinette wanted the house to be ready for Tikki to move in the day she got it.

"Hmm, what to do, what to do, what to do," she murmured to herself, tapping her pencil against her sketch pad.

Tikki should be the one to choose the colour scheme. Marinette wasn't going to change her mind about that. But she had wanted to furnish and decorate the house before she gave it to Tikki, which she couldn't do without a colour scheme to work from.

Or could she?

Soft furnishings, like rugs, blankets, curtains, and bedding, would be so small that she could stitch them up in a matter of minutes. It wouldn't take her long to do several matching sets in different colours and patterns. Plus she had a mountain of material to choose from, not to mention a pile of scraps and off cuts she was keeping on the off chance that they would be useful one day. That would also mean that Tikki could change her colour scheme as often as she wanted.

It was settled then.

Marinette quickly jotted her ideas down in her sketchbook, including a few preliminary drawings, before packing everything away again and hiding it. She had school in the morning, after all, and she didn't want to be late.

* * *

The next night, once Tikki was asleep on her large cat plushie, Marinette pulled out her sketch pad and got to work.

She would take the house room by room and do a little bit of work each night. Hopefully she could finish it before Tikki realised what she was doing – and before Manon's next visit, scheduled or otherwise.

First up, the chevron room in the top left.

Marinette pulled a face. She really didn't like that wallpaper but at least the plain white floor could work with any colour scheme.

It only took a few half finished, rejected designs for her to realise that the little room would not work as a bedroom. The bed she had in mind for Tikki, far more comfortable than a doll's bed, just wouldn't fit in the room properly. It would press up against the window and make it so the door could only open one way. It wouldn't work. But it was too small to use for any other purpose.

Maybe it could be a storage room? Somewhere for Tikki to keep the extra blankets and bedding Marinette was going to make, like a storage cupboard or…

…or a walk in wardrobe!

That would work! All she would have to do would be to fit a small piece of dowel wood along the back wall as a hanging rail. It would be easy to crochet some woollen baskets, or weave a wicker basket set for additional storage. Plus this way Tikki would finally have somewhere to keep her winter clothes.

Marinette had learned the hard way how badly the winter weather affected Ladybugs – both the human and the kwami. In hindsight it should have been obvious. Insects either died or hibernated during winter. Marinette hadn't felt warm for months, no matter how high the heating was or how many blankets she hid under, and Tikki had been worse. It had been a few weeks after the weather became too cold for them that she had the idea to make Tikki a small winter coat with little mittens and a scarf. It wasn't much but it did help Tikki feel better and stay awake for longer.

With a wardrobe room, Tikki could store her winter clothes safely, and have plenty of room to store all the new ones Marinette was planning on making.

It wouldn't even be too difficult to make some tiny kwami-sized wire clothes hangers.

Decision made, she pulled her sketchbook too her.

By the time Marinette went to bed that night she had the room planned out. The dimensions for the rod were carefully worked out, as was the best was to hang it up, and she had several designs for clothes hangers to choose from with instructions on how to make each one. She'd doodled rough plans for storage baskets and noted four different ways in which she could hang curtains at the windows.

The wardrobe room design was done.

* * *

Marinette couldn't work on the second room the following night because of an akuma attack.

They didn't happen late at night very often, for which she was eternally grateful, but when they did they always tended to be akumas that took a long time to fight.

Like this one. Speed Demon. Akumatised after having his licence revoked for getting one too many speeding tickets and he was determined to take it out on the Parisian police force. He was some strange combination of The Flash and The Hulk and no matter how they tried to get close enough to him to even see his akumatised item he ran away too quickly.

Chat noticed how annoyed she was and wisely chose not to comment on it.

She really appreciated his discretion.

Five hours after he appeared, Speed Demon was successfully cleansed and returned home – her Lucky Charm, a bag of marbles, had been just the thing to trip him up while he charged at Chat Noir who had been taunting him for hours. She bid a weary goodbye to her partner and fell asleep almost before she had even landed on her bed.

* * *

Next up was the floral room.

Given that it was next to the wardrobe room it was the obvious choice for the bedroom. The dimensions were just perfect for what she had planned.

Marinette had some foam stuffing left over from when she made her Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls. That was going to be the basis of a soft foam mattress for Tikki, and she would make some fitted sheets, kwami sized pillows, and tiny quilts to go with it. The bed would fit perfectly between the door wall and the stairs. The lower level near the balcony doors would be the perfect spot for a little tiny kwami beanbag.

She could even make the beanbag look like a chocolate chip cookie! That would be adorable!

By the time Marinette went to bed she had over twenty different designs for the bed and the beanbag, and hundreds of little doodles to choose from for the bedding.

* * *

The next room she chose to design was the main room. The very pink main room.

Marinette loved pink. It was obvious after just one glance. It was her favourite colour.

But this wallpaper was just… not nice.

It was a lovely shade of pink but the various animals dotted all over it ruined the effect. She really, really, really hoped that Tikki would change this wallpaper. The floor was nice though.

The only problem was that Marinette wasn't sure what to do with this room.

Usually the main room of the house was the family sitting room. It was the TV, the games room, and sometimes part dining room. She had the sofa and the dining set that came with the house, they would look good in there, but she didn't want to put them there just because she had them.

What could Tikki do with that room?

It wasn't like there were kwami sized books she could read. Even the smallest ones would take up far too much space. She liked to draw, often doodling things in Marinette's sketchbooks to make her smile, and while that would put the dining table to good use it wasn't like she needed a room just to store her paper and pencils. She obviously couldn't get a TV that small, not one that would work.

Maybe it could be a hobby room? Somewhere for Tikki to practice drawing and the other little hobbies she was into.

She could put little baskets and jars in there to hold the arts and craft supplies that Tikki used.

Marinette had just started sketching out some rough plans when her phone, which was thankfully on silent, lit up on the desk and startled her.

It wasn't anything important. Just a notification that her music app and her film streaming app needed updating.

She froze.

The pink room would be a perfect hobby room for Tikki, but what if she used a phone as a TV? It wouldn't cost too much to buy a new phone and there were apps for games, music, TV and film. That would definitely keep Tikki occupied while she had people over.

She would have to keep the sounds down, or else Marinette would have to find some way of making kwami sized headphones, otherwise Tikki would definitely be discovered.

A phone holder could be attached to the back wall so it would look like a wall mounted TV. There was a plug socket up there too, so she would have to take it down to charge it.

"That could work!" she mused.

It took nearly two hours before Marinette was satisfied enough with her designs before she went to bed.

She'd decided to design some covers and small cushions for the sofa, in case Tikki wanted to use it to watch TV, as well as some comfy throws and blankets. She'd also designed another beanbag in case Tikki would prefer that over the sofa.

What had taken the longest time, however, had been the design for kwami appropriate headphones.

Marinette didn't know enough about technology to make some headphones from scratch. None of the internet searches she'd tried had helped her at all. She had even considered asking Nino but decided against it when she couldn't come up with any kind of believable excuse as to why she was suddenly interested in sound technology.

In the end she'd pulled out all her pairs of headphones and earphones and looked at them until inspirations struck.

She could use a regular pair of ear buds and rig up some sort of over the head harness to tie them onto. She hand no less than thirty designs for these headphones but the final decision would have to wait until Tikki knew about her house and could help her make them.

* * *

In hindsight she shouldn't have stayed up so late puzzling over the TV room.

She was exhausted in school the next day, and when an akuma struck over lunch and she had to forget about eating the afternoon was even worse.

Her mother gave her a gentle scolding for forgetting to eat, and Tikki gave her another once they got to the safety of her room.

"Marinette, I know you love designing, but you need to sleep at night!"

"Wh-wh-who said anything about designing at night?"

Tikki just rolled her eyes. "Aside from the fact I can tell you're lying to me," she gave Marinette a hard look, "you woke up this morning with pencil smudges all over your hand and you had that frustrated look on your face – the one you get when a design isn't coming out the way you want it to."

"Ok," she sighed. "I was designing. I had this idea that just would leave me alone, only it would cooperate and go down on paper either."

Tikki nodded. "Well tonight you're going to give it a rest. Sleep on it. It will all look better after a good night's sleep."

"If you insist," Marinette gave in. She really was tired.

Tikki didn't seem convinced. "You're going to go to bed with me tonight Marinette. Ask your mother for some hot chocolate – that will help you sleep."

Sabine was more than happy to make Marinette a large mug of cocoa before bed and she hurried her up the stairs with a plate of cookies too.

The two of them made quick work of the cookies, and Tikki flopped back with a happy sigh after finished her snack. "Your parents make the best cookies, Marinette."

"They do," she agreed. "I might be a little bias, but I've honestly never eaten better anywhere else."

"Nope, you're not bias, they really are the best," the kwami giggled. "Trust me, I know cookies. These are perfectly balanced and just the right amount of sweet."

"If only we could put up your review for people to see," she teased. "I'm sure that knowing Ladybug approved of our cookies would bring customers running."

Tikki stuck her tongue out.

"I can see the signs now," Marinette giggled. "Ladybug's favourite cookie. Ladybug's favourite bread. Ladybug's favourite quiche… hang on, have you ever had anything savoury?"

The thought crossed her mind in the middle of her gently teasing that she hadn't known Tikki to eat anything other than sweet things. Cookies were her favourite, but she'd eaten some of Marinette's pain au chocolat before, and jam tarts, and fruit salads. She just couldn't recall if Tikki had eaten anything not sweet.

"Well I suppose I could try if you _really_ want a Ladybug review," Tikki chuckled. "But I try to only eat foods that will give me energy to help you. For me, that's anything sweet. Cookies are one of the best for refuelling me so I usually choose them. For savoury food you'd want Plagg to give you a review."

"Plagg?"

"Chat Noir's kwami, he's _my_ partner," she smiled but it dimmed quickly. "I haven't seen him in a long time."

"Really?"

"Mhmm," she nodded. "We can only meet up when it's safe for you and Chat Noir to know each other's identities. Right now we have to live apart. Sometime we get years together before we have to move on. Sometimes it's only a few months. Sometimes, it has _never_ been safe to meet."

"Oh, Tikki," she reached for her kwami and hugged her close. "I never knew. Do you miss him?" she grimaced. "Stupid question. Of course you do. Can I do anything?"

"There isn't anything to do, Marinette. Plagg and I will be together again soon – you're one of my best bugs, I know it won't be long before you and Chat Noir defeat Hawkmoth. Plus I can always feel him here," she touched her chest over her heart. "He's never really far away."

"But it isn't the same as being with him."

She shrugged. "Sometimes it does us good to have some time apart. Plagg is… a bit of a handful."

"Oh?"

Tikki grinned and told Marinette tale after tale of the various misadventures that Plagg had gotten into over the years until they both drifted off to sleep with smiles on their faces.

* * *

Tikki insisted that Marinette not stay up late for the rest of the school week so that she wouldn't risk falling asleep in school.

While Marinette was annoyed that she couldn't finish designing Tikki's house, the extra rest was nice and definitely appreciated. Besides, just because she couldn't work at night, didn't mean she had to stop working altogether. One thing she could do during the day was to look at phones.

Her reputation as a klutz came in handy sometimes.

Marinette was always looking at phones. At her clumsiest she could break her phone at least twice a week. Add in her Ladybug activities and phones just weren't safe around her. She was on first name terms with the phone repair guy and got a Christmas card from him and his family every year for being their best customer.

No one found it strange that Marinette was shopping for a new phone. Tikki did catch her one day but her only question was why Marinette was looking at a different model to her usual choice. She fibbed and said that she was just keeping an eye on the most affordable deals and that appeased her kwami enough to ignore her phone shopping.

She found one that was the perfect size for the TV room and it also came with a car mount that Marinette could easily adapt to hold the phone on the wall.

Thanks to a theatre commission with an extra large tip she could order it straight away. The monthly payments would come out of her own account so hopefully Tikki wouldn't go over her limits.

When Saturday night rolled around Marinette was more than ready to finish off her designs for the house. Once she had the design work done it wouldn't take her too long to pull all their pieces together. Then she could surprise Tikki with her refuge.

There was only one problem.

The yellow room was far too small to be of any practical use to the tiny god. It would be a good store room, but she was already using the wardrobe room for that purpose.

It took her a while but eventually she got her inspiration.

Tikki often helped Marinette to tidy up after herself. It was cute to see her struggle with the oversized dusters and brushes whenever Marinette did her chores. Making some kwami sized cleaning clothes, a mop, and a brush wouldn't be too difficult – a toothbrush could become a floor brush, and a mop was really just string on the bottom of a stick – and that way Tikki could keep her own home tidy the way she always pestered Marinette to.

The bedding she planned on keeping in the wardrobe room could go into the store room. A set of shelves couldn't be that hard to make, and she was going to weave some little baskets too. That would free up space for clothes in the wardrobe room too.

One other thing she planned on making was a kwami sized tea set. It had been hilariously silly trying to help Tikki take a sip from her hot chocolate the other night, and the kwami had ended up with a chocolate moustache and beard, but a thimble would be the perfect size for Tikki to drink from. She had plenty to donate.

She quickly doodled how she wanted it to look, and made a list of what she needed, before closing her sketchbook with a smile.

The house design was finally finished.

* * *

The next evening, when she started to design the curtain to hide the shelf from nosy reporter friends, Marinette realised she was stuck.

Hiding the house behind a curtain would keep it out of sight and, hopefully, mean Tikki was kept safe and secret. But if anything it would make Alya even more curious than she normally was. She knew that the things that were currently on the shelf weren't anything truly important, some fiction books and a lamp, so she would certainly be curious as to why Marinette suddenly decided to hide them away. A curious Alya was a dangerous and determined Alya – she would look behind the curtain the second she had the chance.

The worst case scenario would be that she found Tikki, realised she was Ladybug, and end up posting it all over her blog.

Marinette doubted that would happen, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried about that. If Alya discovered her identity, she'd hope that the reporter would choose her friend over her scoop and not post anything.

The best case scenario would be that she'd just see the house and leave it alone.

Marinette also doubted that would happen. Alya would certainly ask why she was hiding a doll's house and the designer didn't have a very good track record when it came to lying to her best friend. She was even worse at making things up on the spot. It was doubtful that she could come up with a lie that would be believable enough.

Why would she have a doll's house? A present for Manon? Alya would either let it slip, ask to be there when she gave it to Manon, or question why she kept it. A childhood memento that she wanted to keep safe? That was more plausible but the house was brand new and didn't look like she'd had it since she was a little girl. Plus it would only take one careless comment by Alya to make her mother suspicious, or vice versa. She just really liked dolls but didn't want people to know because she was a teenager? Oh please, that one wasn't even believable. She'd never been a doll person, and the closest thing to a doll in her home was her dressmakers form.

Great. She couldn't explain away the doll's house. Could she explain away the curtain?

A draught coming off the shelf? No one would believe that unless there was a hole in the wall behind her bed. It looked nicer that way? Yeah, she didn't see anyone accepting that story either. It was to stop her knocking her books off the shelf in her sleep? That… that one might just be possible. She was a restless sleeper at times. And she was a klutz. It was certainly believable that she had knocked her books down one too many times and got fed up with it.

But a curtain wouldn't stop them from falling down like a solid cover would.

Some sort of screen would be better than a curtain at blocking out the light of the phone, and she could make it into a set of sliding doors easily enough so that the shelf would be accessible.

Marinette crept over to her odds and ends drawers.

She had some strips of wood large enough to act as guide rails for the sliding doors. They'd only need a little bit of work to set them up. And…

Perfect!

She still had some solid plastic boards from when she'd made a giant board game set for the local nursery. She'd bought a huge pack to make a set of die as large as her head for the kids to play with, and there were still enough left to make some sliding doors.

They were transparent right now but some paint or wallpaper would take care of that.

* * *

Marinette was stressed.

Four akuma attacks and another unscheduled afternoon of babysitting meant that Marinette couldn't start working on the furnishings for nearly a week after she had finished all of her designs.

While she was getting used to those interruptions it meant that there were now only six days until school broke up for summer. Six days! That means the only had a handful of nights in which she could sew and crochet and knit all of the little home comforts she wanted to make for Tikki. She had to get it finished before Manon started coming round three or four times a week. Tikki needed that safe place!

Luckily, her parents had put their foot down with Mme. Chamack. She had impinged enough upon Marinette with all of her babysitting emergencies. They would not let her bring Manon around unless it was agreed on in advance by all of them. Obviously if it was a true emergency they would bend the rules, but they insisted that Nadja finally find that other babysitter she kept looking for.

She would have a Manon free weekend before her babysitting duties started on the first Monday of the summer holiday, so she had to get everything finished by then.

At times like this Marinette was thankful she was the embodiment of good luck.

Tikki fell asleep quickly every night that week and there were no interruptions from akuma, homework, babysitting, or messages from friends to distract her. It was also lucky that everything she was making was small enough that she could do several of them in an hour.

First up were the curtains.

Marinette strung some wire between two screws above each of the windows to act as the curtain rail. Her fabric scrap pile was raided and cut into shape before she quickly hemmed the small squares of fabric and stitched a channel into the top to thread the wire through. By the time she was done she had curtains in white, pink, red, blue, lavender, violet, and three stunningly beautiful floral patterns.

Next came the bed. It was really more of a pillow than a mattress but it was stuffed with her best foam and felt wonderfully soft. Her scraps pile offered up suitable material in white, pink, and violet for several bed sheets, and she even took the time to stitch a tiny patchwork quilt too.

The chocolate chip cookie beanbag took five minutes to sew and fill, and ten minutes to decorate with buttons as chocolate chips. It was adorable! The sofa covers took twice as long to make, but she only had enough fabric for three – one red, one white, and one pink. The remaining fabric scraps became soft cushions to go on the sofa.

She spent three nights knitting and crocheting blankets for the bed, throws for the sofa, a few extra hats to go into her wardrobe, and some tiny baskets for the store room. She used wool in every colour of the rainbow to make them, and she just knew Tikki would swoon over how soft they were.

Friday evening had her finishing everything off – twisting bits of wire into kwami clothes hangers, and putting the final touches to the sliding covers for the shelf.

Marinette grinned.

It was finally complete and just in time.

Tomorrow, she would give it to Tikki.

* * *

As a reward for all of her hard work at school and in the bakery, and also as an apology for her having to put up with Manon so much, her parents allowed her to sleep in that Saturday.

Marinette was so very tempted to take them up on that offer. Sleeping was her favourite hobby after all. She could sleep for France and take gold in the sleep Olympics.

It was hard to say who was more surprised, her parents, Tikki, or Marinette herself when, instead of sleeping in, she woke up early that Saturday (well, 10.00 counted as early in the holidays, didn't it?).

She grabbed a quick breakfast from the bakery and asked her parents to leave her in peace in her room for the day while she worked on a big project. She had to quickly explain it was a personal project of hers, one she'd been thinking about for a long time, and she wanted to treat herself by making it.

They quickly agreed and Marinette hurried upstairs with her croissants and cookies.

"Marinette, I've never seen you turn down sleep before," Tikki giggled as she flew around the bedroom. "This must be some amazing project! Is it your version of that jacket you liked from last month's Mode Agreste show? Oh, is a dress? You know, the one you swore you'd make just to make Adrien stutter and blush over you!"

"Tikki!"

The kwami laughed at how red Marinette was. "I'm kidding Marinette… mostly!" she smirked. "But seriously, what is it? It must be super special! I'm so excited!"

"Oh it is special," she agreed, pulling the box out from under her desk. "It is the most amazing project I have thought about… and it's for both of us to do."

"It is?"

"Yes!"

"What is it? What are we doing?" she flew a few loop-de-loops, clapping in excitement, and watching Marinette open the box eagerly.

"Today, you and I are going to decorate your new home."

Tikki didn't answer. She was frozen in mid-air, just staring at the doll's house with a blank look on her face.

The longer she stayed quiet, the more Marinette began to panic. Did she not like it? She didn't think that Marinette was trying to throw her out did she? What if she'd just committed a grave insult in kwami society but she didn't know it because she had no idea about her kwami's life? Oh god she was a horrible Miraculous holder.

"I-I-if you don't like it then that's fine, Tikki, honest," she started rambling. "I just thought it might be something you'd like so it could give you a place to hide away from Manon the next time she comes over – so you won't get mistaken for a toy again. It fits nicely in the shelf over my bed, and I've made a special cover for it so no one will see the house unless we want them too, and they won't see the light from the phone either… oh!" she quickly pointed out the phone holder that was screwed to the wall of the pink room. "I've bought you a phone so you can watch TV or stream a film or play those games that you like. It isn't just for TV and games either, it's a real phone, it's set up to my account, so you can text and phone people too. My number is in there already and I thought… I thought if I told Chat Noir what I've done, then he could get a phone for Plagg too and the two of you could talk again. I know how much you miss him and I know you can't see him until we've beaten Hawkmoth but at least this way you can…"

" _MARINETTE_!"

Tikki suddenly threw herself at Marinette, making her juggle the house awkwardly for a moment while she tried to catch the sobbing kwami, but she quickly recovered and held it close.

"Tikki?"

"Oh Marinette," the little god sobbed into her chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "You like it?"

"I love it!"

"Good."

"Oh Marinette, it's just… I…" she flew over to the desk and grabbed a tissue, quickly wiping her face and blowing her nose. "It's just perfect! I've never had a place of my own before and this is… it's just…" she started sobbing again, big, huge, happy tears, and flew at her Chosen again.

It took a long time for the two of them to calm down, and it took bribing Tikki with a full plate of cookies before she would stop hugging Marinette, but by early afternoon the two girls were ready to start decorating.

Tikki, unsurprisingly, was taking this very seriously.

She studied all of the materials Marinette had to decorate with – paints of all types, stickers, wallpaper samples, chalks, crayons, pencils – then looked at all of the soft furnishings that Marinette had made. For the better part of a hour she hovered around her house, holding up fabric samples and colour swatches, before making her final decisions.

To no one's surprise, the main colour was going to be pink.

The bedroom and wardrobe room were painted a solid pink, very similar to the shade on Marinette's walls, while the store room and TV room were both painted white. She left the store room plain white since it wasn't going to be used often, but the TV room was different.

She and Marinette grabbed her markers and her stickers and set about creating their own floral wallpaper over the white paint. Swirling vines, beautiful roses, tiny buds and huge flowers, chrysanthemums, tulips, carnations, violets, all of Tikki's favourite flowers appeared on those walls. It was a beautiful effect once it was finished and coloured just the way she wanted it.

Tikki chose a lovely pale rose felt for her carpeting and together they cut and glued it to all of the floors in her house. Tikki put matching curtains at the windows, these ones having tiny flowers and vines embroidered on them in white.

When the carpet glue was dry they moved the furniture in. Tikki adored her cookie shaped beanbag chair, and she raved over how comfortable the bed was. She chose a pale lavender bedding set, so pale it was practically white, and Marinette promised to embroider it with the flowers she specified at a later date.

She chose the red throw with black cushions for the sofa and giggled at how well camouflaged she was.

The dining table and chairs were a startlingly good fit for a kwami, but she refused to have them in her house just yet.

"I don't really need a table and chairs myself, Marinette," she smiled. "But one day, when Plagg and I know each other again, it might be nice to have somewhere to sit and talk with him," he smile suddenly turned devious. "It'll give us somewhere quiet to be when you and Chat are on your dates!"

" _Tikki_!"

Marinette stumbled over her words in her haste to assure her kwami that she only had room for one in her heart and it was not Chat so any ideas she had about the two heroes dating had better disappear quickly… but she ended up giggling along with Tikki in the end.

Once all the paint and glue had dried and everything was in place, Tikki helped her position her new home on the shelf behind Marinette's bed. They plugged her phone in and turned on some energetic and upbeat music while they saw to the final touch. The cover.

Gluing the rails to the wall didn't take too much effort, and sliding the panels into positing was easier with the two of them working together. It seemed to hide the light from the phone quite well but they would have to wait for night to fall before they could check it properly.

"Marinette, it's just perfect!"

Tikki stood on the balcony of her home, door open behind her, having just finished her final inspection.

"I'm so glad you like it, Tikki."

"I love it!"

"I can see," she laughed. "Now promise me that if you want anything for it, if you want to redecorate, if you want anything, just let me know ok?"

"I promise!"

Marinette laughed again and gave Tikki her bedtime cookies and a small kiss on the forehead. "Enjoy your first night in your new home Tikki!"

* * *

The next morning Marinette was very surprised to be the one to wake up before Tikki. The kwami was snoring softly in her bed and Marinette didn't have the heart to wake her.

This was the best present she had ever given to anyone!

* * *

Over the years, Tikki and Marinette added several things to her home. New furniture, little lamps, a tiny mirror. They would change the décor whenever Tikki wanted something new and fresh.

Every year for Christmas and their anniversary, Marinette would make Tikki some new clothes and accessories to put in her wardrobe. Most of the time they were a surprise, but sometimes Tikki would come to her with a special request – like the time she asked for a thicker winter coat with white faux fur trim after she'd seen a similar coat in Marinette's fashion magazines.

But Tikki's favourite additions to her home came many years after she got it. She loved when her pink, and red, and floral clothes started getting mixed up with the slightly larger black and green clothes. She loved when another bean bag appeared in her bedroom, this one shaped like a wheel of camembert. She loved when she got a larger bed, big enough for two kwami, with new bedding to match the bedding covering the two humans on the loft bed just outside her home.

Tikki loved her house. So much so that she was sad to leave it behind when the time came to move on.

"Cheer up, Sweets," a familiar, cocky voice interrupted her daydreams about her lovely house. "You're going on to bigger and better things."

"I know."

Indeed she did. With Marinette and Adrien moving into their own home together, at long last, the two kwami had decide to move into something bigger and more suitable too. They'd found a lovely doll's house online, three storeys tall, Victorian in design, and they'd fallen in love with it. It was going to be delivered first thing tomorrow when they moved in.

Tonight was the last night she would ever spend in her lovely little home.

"I know," she sighed again. "I just… this was my first home, Plagg. It was the first thing I've had that was just mine. I'm going to miss it."

"Well, it's a good thing I talked to Nino and Wayzz the last time we were over there."

"About what?"

"One day, hopefully a long, long time away, you and I will leave these two kids to their own lives," he jerked his head over his shoulder, indicating where their two humans were finishing packing up their things, chatting and smiling together.

Tikki's smile became sadder. "I know. We'll go back to the Guardian – I mean, to Nino – as we always have done. We'll sleep and dream together until we're summoned the next time there is need of us. I know this Plagg, it's always the same thing."

"Except this time it will be different."

"Huh?"

"This time, when Nino chooses new humans for us he'll give them our Miraculous _and_ our homes."

"What?"

He smirked. "You didn't think I wanted to give up my house too, did you? After it took me weeks to get those two to set it up just right for me? And Wayzz loves his so much it was easy to convince him to help me talk Nino into it."

"You really mean…"

"Yep. You don't have to give up your home, my Sweet. Nino will collect it tomorrow and package it up ready for the next time it is needed. He's already got mine. And tomorrow," he floated over to her, entwining his antennae with hers, "you and I get to make our own home together."

"Oh Plagg!"

She was crying now, happy tears this time. She could always trust this silly cheese loving fool to know exactly what to do to look after her.

In the morning Tikki was the last to leave the room. She floated through her house one last time, smiling at the memories, before closing the balcony door behind her for the last time in this particular cycle.

"I'll see you again soon, my pretty little house."

.

.

.

Author's note: this fic is the product of a random late night online conversation in which a friend and I talked about how boring it must be for the kwami to be hidden away and she said that it would be better if they had a hidey hole. This fic is the result. It was only meant to be a short fic. Not over 10k words! If you are interested, this is the doll's house I am describing here: www. Argos. co. uk. /product/7452273


End file.
